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Judge Rips State Agency, Calls for Another Pot Liscense

Judge rips state agency, calls for another pot license

By Dara Kam | The News Service of Florida

Posted Jun 19, 2018 at 11:18 AMUpdated Jun 19, 2018 at 11:20 AM

TALLAHASSEE — Accusing Florida health officials of a “colossal blunder” that created a “dumpster fire,” an administrative law judge recommended that the state grant a highly sought-after medical marijuana license to a South Florida nursery.

Judge John Van Laningham’s recommended order scalded the state Office of Medical Marijuana Use for using a flawed system to decide which applicants should receive the coveted licenses.

Friday’s lengthy order in favor of Nature’s Way Nursery of Miami, Inc. accompanied a separate order in which Van Laningham scrapped an emergency rule crafted by the Florida Department of Health following the passage of a 2017 law aimed at implementing a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.

Van Laningham’s decisions echoed and expanded on his previous fault-finding about an application-scoring process and are the latest in what has evolved into a power struggle between health officials and the administrative law judge over medical marijuana.

Last year, lawyers representing the health department made a rare – and futile – attempt at trying to get Van Laningham removed from a separate marijuana case.